NFL Mock Draft: Baltimore Ravens Select OL Cesar Ruiz at No. 28

With the 28th pick of the 2020 DBN Community NFL Mock Draft, the Baltimore Ravens select...

Cesar Ruiz, OL, Michigan

The selection and write-up were made by tinkerer:

Brandon Junk, TE, Akron

We all know the ratbirds...err Ravens love tight ends right? And they need to find a replacement for the departing Hayden Hurst so why not find one at the top of the draft? Brandon is a cerebral, high-efficiency player. A member of the Academic All-MAC team as a redshirt senior, Brandon scored touchdowns on every reception in 2019. For comparison’s sake, in Gronk’s most efficient touchdowns year in the NFL he scored on just under 25% of his receptions. For his career, Gronk scored a touchdown on just under 16% of receptions which is less than Brandon’s career average in college of 20%. He’s also shown a consistent desire to improve as the Zips 2017 Most Improved Offensive Player following spring drills.

All in all, the Ravens should find this very appealing. They will hopefully find room to start him immediately and, given Brandon’s high school background as a defensive end and special teams player, use him in all aspects of play. We need more Junk on the Ravens.

Cesar Ruiz, IOL, Michigan

Coming out of high school at IMG Academy, Ruiz was the top center prospect in the country. Ruiz started five games at right guard as a freshman at Michigan before becoming the full-time starter for the next two seasons at center. Ruiz has great NFL potential based on his athleticism and positional flexibility to fit multiple schemes. He is quick and fast with strong hands and a compact punch. His fluidity allows him to excel on wide pulls and screens. He’s also got a nice amount of dog in him and will always play to the whistle. The one area he will need to work on to succeed in the NFL is his face-up power. Strong bull rushes may give him issues as a rookie.

With the recent signing of Jake Ryan and the top 3 LBs off the board, the Ravens don’t need to reach to fill that position. They can also hold off until the second round to find another weapon at WR in this deep class. Instead, they grab the most pro-ready replacement for the recently retired future HOF Marshall Yanda right off the bat. With the Ravens downhill, pistol-based running game, a guard who can anchor in pass protection and get to the second level is all you can really ask for after losing a player of Yanda’s stature. For additional bonus points, it’s fair to suspect that John Harbaugh can get any and all information he wants on Ruiz by calling his brother Jim. When specifically asked about Ruiz, the Ravens GM said:

”He’s a guy that plays on his feet, he’s very smart, he’s a got a good body, he’s a very good athlete, he’s got a good strong punch, he can anchor, he can play in space. Basically, he can do all the things you want a center to do. Obviously, our connection to Michigan, we feel like we’ve got an advantage where we can get information on these guys that we feel will help us make decisions. And we will always use that information to the best of our ability.”

Fingers crossed they go with Junk but Ruiz seems like a decent bet unless a talented player drops on draft night.

Pokorny: “Sorry that my formatting spoiled the surprise of who the Ravens selected, lol. But it just figures, that in the year that Marshal Yanda retires and Baltimore is all the way down at No. 28 overall, they can just wake up, look at the board, and say, ‘Oh look, the top guard is still available — sure, we’ll draft him.’”

The Tennessee Titans are up next, led by wahoo7.